John Blake — Policy Exchange’s Head of Education and Social Reform — enters the ongoing discussion about the ‘ever-vexed’ topic of university access. He argues that, regardless of the rising number of young people going on to higher education, ‘an 18-year-old from a disadvantaged background, indeed from any background, should face a choice beyond either a university place they may not really want (even on the generous loan terms we have) and nothing’.

Responding to comments by former Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg, John Blake — Policy Exchange’s Head of Education and Social Reform — discusses the intention and impact of the free school programme. In an article published by the TES, he argues that ‘seeking innovative practice was not an afterthought, but a core aspect of the programme, and one that has yielded enormous dividends for not just those children attending the new free schools, but the whole system’.

In a new piece for TES, John Blake — Policy Exchange’s Head of Education and Social Reform — says Labour’s roadmap towards a National Education Service needs more landmarks than its slightly ambiguous manifesto provides